DIY Audio or OCD to the next level

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agree, and especially because I was missing out the right channel...mono is one thing but one channel makes you miss some info

BTW my current speakers are nice enough, yet they will end up in my home office...the Trionor build is sortof stalled as I'm waiting from someone to trace the horn curve on a vintage Bionor...I may need to do a pilgrimage to Utah to get it.
 
Yesterday I found an early Christmas present on my doorstep, a 14" transcription unipivot tonearm, we're building a more fancy tonearm later but this will carry the Miyajima Zero for the time being....

Now to find the right viscosity and get some oil to fill the well and some wires spun by elves during a bloodmoon.....

Also finally got the heatsinks for the dual Xeon audio server routed, so that project can continue, and we found a source to measure up a perfectly original set of Bionor horns.

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Never went into DIY speakers but I had a decent audio system a few years ago. Played around with alot of different components over the years and eventually settled on KEF LS50W with acoustic treatments. Had absorbers diffusers and base traps set up with DSP/room correction. Currently using cheap airpod knockoffs!
 
If anyone here has recommendations for a good low power (let's say 120W, I need about 30 but like to have some headroom but not too much as efficiency goes down with too much headroom) pure Sine Wave inverter putting out 110 V 60Hz I'm all ears, I plan on using that to convert any PSU output (12V 24V 40V DC or whatever) and create a pure sine wave 60 Hz 110 V for the RCA turntable that way rather than creating it from scratch or using a different motor.
 
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MarcelNL said:
If anyone here has recommendations for a good low power (let's say 120W, I need about 30 but like to have some headroom but not too much as efficiency goes down with too much headroom) pure Sine Wave inverter putting out 110 V 60Hz I'm all ears, I plan on using that to convert any PSU output (12V 24V 40V DC or whatever) and create a pure sine wave 60 Hz 110 V for the RCA turntable that way rather than creating it from scratch or using a different motor.
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There are plenty to be found on Amazon and eBay for under $100. I wouldn't worry too much about the precise brand or specs. At such low power levels, pretty much anything will do a perfect job.
 
I found another set of the right 4gb RAM sticks so I should be fine for now, not running the risk that CPU 1 needs to access the RAM dedicated to CPU2 unless I end up upsampling DSP-ing or doig similar heavy lifting stuff (god forbid that) .

NVME to PCIe adapters are on their way (the only NVME connection is not direct to CPU so I'll skip that one) so I should be able to finalize the server build pretty soon, the beast is about to be born.
 
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I listened to it with two server fans mounted and a simple SMPS feeding it, internal network in, through the noise of those fans it sounded a lot better than my current project! The midrange transparency is something else...
 
lift off, let the battle with BIOS settings begin.....I suspect it's going to be many hours bent over the manual getting things set up...I had the BIOS setup but that seems out of bounds all of a sudden..

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We have lift off, W10 pro LTSC installed on the dual XEON server build, it's running! Took a bit of effort to get an NVME drive to be recognized in BIOS, get the BIOS to boot etcetera, there definitely is such a thing as too many options in a BIOS.

For now it's running with fans on the heatpipe adaptors, CPU temperature are LOW (30-ies), so the heatsinks I'll be using are a huge overkill, which is great as lower CPU temperature is better.


Also tinkered up a cascaded router that is now effectively separating the audio network from the rest....in situ in the current music server network, quite a transformation in sound !

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I doubt it'll be an issue since CPU utilization / power consumption is likely to be negligible, but did you check VRM temps on the motherboard when using only passive cooling? Normally they're designed with the expectation that they'll be getting at least some airflow through case / CPU / gpu fans.
 
Jovidah said:
I doubt it'll be an issue since CPU utilization / power consumption is likely to be negligible, but did you check VRM temps on the motherboard when using only passive cooling? Normally they're designed with the expectation that they'll be getting at least some airflow through case / CPU / gpu fans.
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true!

I'll be monitoring that using an IR gun, but since Taiko Audio is using the very same MB and CPU combo in an almost enclosed system case without fans (only some perforations in the lid) I am not worried about it.

CPU utilization is indeed low, and should be for sound quality...yet the Ryzen 16 Core I'm now using is getting much hotter, I suspect the Xeon CPU's have better thermal conduction inside (plan to delid them at some point) and their surface area is approx double.
 
If it's AMD 7000 series then... Yea not surprised, they pushed those quite far into the deep end of the power curve. You could consider running it at eco mode, for example capped at 105w. Barely makes any difference in performance but it makes it a lot less hot whenever it's boosting.
 
Jovidah said:
If it's AMD 7000 series then... Yea not surprised, they pushed those quite far into the deep end of the power curve. You could consider running it at eco mode, for example capped at 105w. Barely makes any difference in performance but it makes it a lot less hot whenever it's boosting.
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Cap it at 65w. Not a huge performance difference between 105w and 65w for newer generation AMD CPU's.
 
M1k3 said:
Cap it at 65w. Not a huge performance difference between 105w and 65w for newer generation AMD CPU's.
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No capping PUHLEASE, I need more CPU power doing nothing, hence the dual Xeon build...know it sounds crazy but it's true..

The Ryzen 16 core is in use 24/7 and runs at 38-39'C core temperature (hottest core), I expect the dual Xeon to run at around 33-35'C (each will have a 300W rated Heatsink for passive air flow, using one heatsink for the Ryzen)
 
MarcelNL said:
true!

I'll be monitoring that using an IR gun, but since Taiko Audio is using the very same MB and CPU combo in an almost enclosed system case without fans (only some perforations in the lid) I am not worried about it.

CPU utilization is indeed low, and should be for sound quality...yet the Ryzen 16 Core I'm now using is getting much hotter, I suspect the Xeon CPU's have better thermal conduction inside (plan to delid them at some point) and their surface area is approx double.
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Congrats. My Taiko warms my entire front end closet, so even though CPU utilization is low there's a lot of power dissipated.

Speaking of Taiko, they (and their customers) are raving about the audible effect of their network hardware even for playing local files. I remain skeptical, but several folks I trust are drinking the Koolaid.
 
ACHiPo said:
Congrats. My Taiko warms my entire front end closet, so even though CPU utilization is low there's a lot of power dissipated.

Speaking of Taiko, they (and their customers) are raving about the audible effect of their network hardware even for playing local files. I remain skeptical, but several folks I trust are drinking the Koolaid.
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yeah I am a follower ( of the threads, and also a bit of a believer in what they do)

I tested today and even with one ear blocked (for over 4 weeks now) due to the aftermath of a nasty cold and one ear overcompensating what I heard today makes the additional router a no brainer addition!
And indeed also for local files.

The Extreme puts out 2* 60 or so Watt, over time that adds up...I see it as additional electric heating, so the geothermal well does not have to be worked that hard by the heat pump ;-)
 
While tinkering with the dual Xeon server I found some time to add a second router to the network, effectively branching off audio from all other IPTV and internet stuff (home automation, wifi and all that). I'm amazed what it added to the sound quality of both local files and streaming music.

Now all that remains is adding an external wifi access point to control the audio server via a separate wifi channel and not from within the router.
 
Adding the external WIFI at low power and low speed and dedicating an old Ipad as remote control makes another nice change that should not exist.
meanwhile the dual xeon server has two operating systems to pick from, and I'm finishing the passive cooling, about to order panels for a case.
 
Finally I got to measure up a pristine pair of original Klangfilm Bionor Cinema speakers, and we got an ear full of A Western Electric 15, and some Altec 'voice of the theatre' setup.

The Western Electric design goes back to the very very early days of 'the talkies', and is still highly relevant....I'm impressed...
Bionor sounded very organic and 'holistic'

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Marcel,
That's pretty great--quite the dedication of floor space and volume for Europe! Love the beer basket--I'm sure that helped the organic sound!

Any update on your Bionor plans?
Evan
 
German beer is a great passageway for organic sound!

Yeah well, I just informed the neigbours they need to move out, I need the space for the WE15 horns, anyone who has the cast iron throuats lying around is welcome to report to me ;-)

Just kidding, Bionor sounded great too, I am pushing forward with the build now I know what the horn curve is...I just had to satisfy that curiosity before building anything as I knew it would nag me forever.....such is my audio OCD.

Let the build begin, finally....

BTW those speakers are just a hint what the room stored...a collection of vintage ultra high end collectibles I did not knew existed.....I'm still speechless.
 
I finally have in depth details for the Bionor design, and that free's mindspace so a new design came into play...putting the horns vertically so I can go larger and lower ;-)
30Hz is in reach now.

something similar to the Altec voice of the theatre design but with three speaker units and a larger baffle;
 

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